When the narrative turns to Bond, he is listless in London, mourning the end of a love affair and appalled by the boredom that has overtaken him after a year of unbearable peace. Indifferent to everything but violence, he calmly awaits the call that will signal his next murderous mission. When we first see Grant he is prone beside a swimming pool at a Russian villa, his ‘morgue-like’ face sending shivers through the masseuse kneading his ‘insolent’ muscles. This is a daring move, but one which pays off by allowing a detailed portrayal of other key characters, including Grant ‘the slaughterer’ and his gruesome back story. Unusually for a Bond novel, the hero does not appear for the first portion of the book. Kennedy listed it amongst his ten favourite books.

‘Mr Fleming’s tautest, most exciting and most brilliant tale’įrom Russia with Love was published during the Cold War, and John F. This elegant edition features a pictorial slipcase and alluring illustrations by Fay Dalton, whose work also appears in all titles of the Folio Society Ian Fleming Collection. Tatiana Romanova is the ravishing, guileless instrument of a deadly honeytrap designed to destroy and defame the Secret Service’s greatest agent. Rosa Klebb is the repugnant SMERSH operations chief whose weaponry includes a boot concealing a poison-tipped knife Red Grant is the terrifying psychopath whose lust for murder has made him Chief Executioner. The ebullient and dissipated Darko Kerim reigns over ‘Station T’ with the help of his many children, and becomes Bond’s firm comrade. Set among the bazaars and minarets of Istanbul, and aboard the Orient Express, the novel features some of the series’ most memorable characters. Named as Ian Fleming’s finest novel in numerous polls, and described by the author as, ‘In many respects, my best book,’ this nail-biting thriller sees 007 ensnared by an elaborate plot devised by the Soviet counter-intelligence agency, SMERSH.

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